Month: August 2015

Successful assessment of the first half of the 2015 Audi Sport TT Cup: The new Audi one-make cup captivates thousands of fans at the race tracks and in live streaming with thrilling motorsport. The prominent guest entrants are enthusiastic about their racing commitments in the DTM’s supporting program as well.

Six races, six winners. Halfway through the Audi Sport TT Cup, a third of the 18 permanent entrants have already won a race. This proves that the Audi one-make cup stands for balanced and competitive motorsport. Its international field has high relevance as well. Drivers from six nations have entered their names on the winners’ list: Marc Coleselli (A), Dennis Marschall (D), Shaun Thong (HK), Nicolaj Møller Madsen (DK), Jan Kisiel (PL) and Alexis van de Poele (B).

“The young drivers have been doing a great job right from the beginning and delivering tremendous motorsport to the spectators,” says Project Leader Rolf Michl. “The season opener at the Hockenheimring was an outstanding premiere and the feedback from members of the media and the fans was very positive. The subsequent races at the Norisring and at Spielberg gave us a lot of highs too – as well as a setback with the severe accident at the Red Bull Ring.”

The second race at Spielberg had been started behind the safety car due to heavy rain and given the all clear by race control after four laps. Due to the poor visibility an accident occurred under green flags involving six drivers – including Levin Amweg. The Swiss sustained a back injury and had to be hospitalized. “We’re wishing Levin all the best and hope that he’ll soon be able to race again,” says Michl. “We’re carefully analyzing the accident. We can already say this much today: the safety concept of our car functioned.”

The participation of the VIP guest entrants attracted additional attention in the first half of the season. They included the noblemen Pierre Casiraghi (MC) and Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis (D) as well as the ski stars Felix Neureuther (D), Aksel Lund Svindal (N) and Marcel Hirscher (A) competing in the cup race car. All of them expressed their enthusiasm after the race weekends. “If I was invited again next year, I’d immediately accept,” said the four-time overall World Cup winner Hirscher.

In the overall classification of the permanent entrants, Nicolaj Møller Madsen is in the top spot halfway through the season. The Dane has 111 points and finished on podium in five of the six races. He is trailed by Jan Kisiel (99 points) and Dennis Marschall (87.5).

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Audi driver Mattias Ekström is aiming for the top step of the podium in the DTM races at Moscow: With a victory at the Red Bull Ring, the Swede had taken the lead in the Championship at the end of July. Now, the Russian round of the internationally popular touring car racing series is on the agenda.

In the DTM’s Russian premiere at Moscow Raceway, the Swede, in second place, completed a commanding Audi one-two win in the 2013 season. Last year, Ekström was on podium again at Moscow, having advanced to third place after starting from position eleven on the grid. “So, actually, the only thing that’s still missing is a victory,” the leader of the DTM standings feels – knowing full well that this will be no mean feat because the Audi RS 5 DTM cars, following their success at Spielberg, will be the heaviest cars in the field yet again this season.

Mattias Ekström is expecting to have chances at the 3.931-kilometer Moscow Raceway in spite of the high weight. “I had the heaviest car in the field at Spielberg too and actually shouldn’t have been able to win there,” he says. “We simply need to do the best job again. In that case, anything’s possible. Every point counts. This year, the title will be clinched by the driver that manages to score good results even with a lot of weight.”

“This will be a really tough nut to crack,” Dieter Gass believes. The Head of DTM at Audi Sport was absent due to illness most recently at Spielberg and is returning to the command post in Russia. “We’ve won at Moscow Raceway before but experienced a pretty difficult race last year. Our aim is another victory.”

Two other Audi drivers – Edoardo Mortara (Italy) and Jamie Green (Great Britain) – are in the top four of the drivers’ classification, which gives them good prospects in the battle for the title. Mortara clinched 40 of 50 possible points at Spielberg and would like to continue his performance at Moscow Raceway. Green most recently went home without points five consecutive times and is set on finally ending his string of misfortune.

Between Spielberg and Moscow, the activities of the three candidates for the title differed a lot from each other. Mattias Ekström competed in two rounds of the World Rallycross Championship in Canada and Norway with his own team. Edoardo Mortara had the opportunity to ride on a Red Bull stunt plane in Austria which meant fulfilling a dream of his. Jamie Green honed his German language skills in an intensive course at the Audi Academy in Ingolstadt.

Next weekend, they will meet again in Moscow. While the drivers will be conveniently traveling by air, the trucks of the teams had to cover the near-2,500-kilometer distance as a convoy – which put an extreme strain on the people and equipment as some of the roads were rough to travel on.

Moscow Raceway is about an hour and a half’s drive from Moscow’s city center. A long straight before the start and finish on which the drivers reach speeds of more than 240 km/h before braking is one of the special characteristics of the track. This is where most of the overtaking maneuvers normally take place.

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Audi customer teams successful in Australia: at the Australian GT Championship race weekend in Sydney, Audi drivers celebrated two victories and podium positions.

Victory and podiums finishes in Sydney

At the fourth round of the Australian GT Championship, Christopher Mies and Ryan Millier produced the best performance in an Audi R8 LMS ultra. At the Sydney Motorsport Park, the duo fielded by Audi customer team Jamec PEM Racing headed an Audi one-two finish. Second was Audi driver Nathan Antunes (Skwirk/Beechwood), who was third in race two ahead of Mies/Millier. There was also an Audi victory in the Trophy classification to celebrate: in race two, Mark Griffith won from his stablemates Greg Taylor/Barton Mawer. In the first race, Taylor/Mawer made the podium in third place.

Tom Kristensen with Danish crown prince at golf tournament

Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen was delighted about receiving an invitation to the European Tour with royal participation. The former professional racing driver competed in the Pro-Am class in the golf event ‘made in Denmark’ with two celebrity competitors – the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and the most successful Danish golfer Thomas Bjørn. Jacob Brunsborg, the son of Himmerland Golf Resort owner Lars Larsen, completed the team. Around 6,000 spectators attended the competition in Farsø in northern Denmark.

Expert training with the Audi Sport legends

No less than six of Audi’s former Le Mans winners passed on their motorsport knowledge during expert training for sales assistants. Frank Biela, Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner supported the Audi Training seminars in Munich on 30 training days. Sales assistants are trained here for their job as Audi Sport experts in the retail trade. “It was fun showing just what is possible with the R8 V10, the new TT cup and the R8 LMS,” said Allan McNish on behalf of his colleagues. “With us, the employees discovered that Audi Sport ignites a burning passion and sporty models like the R8 V10 have their roots in motorsport.”

André Lotterer at product presentation in Japan

Audi driver André Lotterer attended the press preview for the new Audi TT Roadster and TTS in Tokyo on Thursday. Audi Japan launched the two models on its domestic market and invited the guests to an event in the ‘Studio Earth’ on Tokyo Tower, an architectural landmark in Shiba Park in the Japanese capital. 110 media representatives from Japan and around 50 other guests visited the presentation of the models, which are very popular within the Japanese sportscar market. André Lotterer, currently FIA WEC championship leader with Audi, talked about his expectations for the 6 Hours of Fuji, which is set to be held on 11 October.

Racers visit Audi of America

The racing drivers representing Audi customer teams visited the Audi of America headquarters in Herndon on the way to their next events. Racing drivers Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke, currently second in the GTD classification standings of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, travelled with Paul Miller Racing to Virginia. In addition to their Audi R8 LMS machines, there was also an R8 LMS from team C360R at the headquarters. The Audi of America employees could also admire exhibits from Audi’s motorsport history, including the Audi R8 and Audi R10 TDI LMP racecars. Moderator John Hindhaugh hosted proceedings in the presence of IMSA President Scott Atherton, President of Audi of America Scott Keogh, as well as key personnel responsible for the motorsport program Tristan Herbert, Andy Sattler and Brad Kettler.

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The Audi drivers will be entering round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) as leaders of the standings after the summer break. Following two victories and another podium result, Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F) are traveling to Audi’s home round at the Nürburgring with a 20-point advantage.

In what has been its most thrilling season so far, the FIA World Endurance Championship that was launched four years ago will be competing in front of a German audience for the first time. The leaders of the standings and their Audi team-mates Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis (BR/F/GB) will be racing together with 29 other teams on the Grand Prix circuit of the Nürburgring. Audi Sport prepared for this new track in a test at the end of July, which included testing based on the new rating provided for by the regulations.

Throughout the six-hour race, the crowd can expect to see a balanced competition starting at 13.00 on Sunday. The race at the Nürburgring might prove as thrilling as the season opener when Audi decided the round at Silverstone in its favor with a 4.6-second advantage following a nail-biting battle. Subsequently, in Belgium, the victorious Audi trio was separated by its closest rivals by just 13.4 seconds. After the fast tracks at the beginning of the season, Audi is now competing on a semi-fast track in the Eifel. Extremely slow track sections driven at only around 70 km/h are contrasted by others where speeds may exceed 290 km/h.

The race in Germany rings in the decisive stage of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Within the space of twelve weeks, the remaining five races will be held in Europe, North America and Asia. The best drivers can score a maximum of 130 points in them until the end of November.

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Electric driving at Audi is a pleasure, not a compromise. The brand is demonstrating this with the Audi e-tron quattro concept at the International Motor Show (IAA) 2015 in Frankfurt. The sporty SUV provides an outlook on the brand’s first large-series electric car.

The Audi e-tron quattro concept is designed from the ground up as an electric car and proves to be pioneering in its segment at the very first glance. It follows the Audi “Aerosthetics” concept, combining technical measures for reducing aerodynamic drag with creative design solutions. Movable aerodynamic elements at the front, on the sides and at the rear improve the air flow around the car. The aerodynamically optimized underbody is completely closed. With a cd value of 0.25, the car sets a new record in the SUV segment. This contributes considerably to the long range of more than 500 kilometers (310 miles).

The study is based on the second-generation modular longitudinal platform, which provides considerable scope for the drive system and package. Its length is between that of the Audi Q5 and the Q7. Its typical SUV body and flat, coupe-like cabin give the Audi e-tron quattro concept a very dynamic appearance. The spacious interior offers room for four people.

The large lithium-ion battery is positioned between the axles and below the passenger compartment. This installation position provides for a low center of gravity and a balanced axle load distribution. And that gives the car better driving dynamics and driving safety than other vehicles in the segment.

Audi uses its experience with the electrically driven Audi R8 e-tron sports car for the drive system. Three electric motors – one on the front axle and two on the rear axle – drive the Audi e-tron quattro concept. And that makes it an electrified quattro, the e-tron quattro –efficient and dynamic at the same time.